


Of Symbiosis, Self Care, and Staying Hydrated

by misato



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Big Sad in chapter 3, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Mania, Mental Health Issues, Other, Protective Venom Symbiote (Marvel), Rating May Change, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-02 05:57:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17258810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misato/pseuds/misato
Summary: “What are you, my therapist?”Venom does a quick search through his memories, scanning what Eddie remembers of his old therapist.“No,” Venom decides. “Not your therapist. Your symbiote. I am supposed to take care of this body, loser.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> back with more symbrock  
> because i would die for them.  
> well...vee would kill me.
> 
> a haiku.

The carefully measured water for Eddie’s cup of noodles spins monotonous circles in the microwave at one in the morning. He’s decidedly sinking into a depression again, and every attempt to get out of it just feels like he’s thrashing around in quicksand. A trip to the corner store and back did nothing to calm his nerves, and even the thought of searching out bad guy or two to eat didn’t tempt either his or the symbiote’s appetite.

It’s been another sleepless night, and even Venom’s far too miserable to get snappy at him about it -- they’re just sulking somewhere in the pit of his stomach, silent and brooding. It turns out the symbiote is a bit more empathetic than they originally let on. Either that, or they seem to be affected by whatever chemicals trigger Eddie’s mood swings. He prays it isn’t the latter; he imagines Dan would have a field day with that one.

The microwave bleep-bleep-bleeps aggressively, jarring Eddie from half-formed thoughts. He flings it open to stop the sound from seeping through the paper-thin walls of his apartment and waking his grumpy neighbors. 

Gingerly, he takes the steaming container between two sacrificial fingers and plunks it on the counter, wincing as the heat stings his fingertips. 

**“Ow!”** Venom complains, jolting up and making Eddie stumble backwards.

“Easy there, bud,” Eddie growls, and runs one hand under the tap and fumbles for a plastic fork with the other. 

Then he peels back the lid of the cup ramen, pours the boiled water, dumps in the flavor packet, and stirs.

The aroma of cheap college days swirls into the kitchen and Eddie’s conscience scolds at him.

Briefly, he remembers Anne telling him that he should eat better -- more healthy green things, less tater tots and live lobsters. Dan’s already told him about some aerobics class he takes on the weekends. But steamed broccoli and Zumba won’t curb the depressive episodes, and he knows Venom wouldn’t be pleased with either one.

So instead Eddie isolates. He curls up in bed and sleeps for hours, or stays up all night worrying about nothing. He eats convenience store snacks for lunch and takeout for dinner. He skips breakfast altogether -- no sense in making eggs and bacon in the afternoon if he sleeps through the morning. He goes to work and hates it; he drinks too much alcohol and not enough water; he hasn’t had a night out with friends in months. He’s lonely. He feels like shit. 

**“We are not okay, Eddie,”** Venom murmurs after they’ve wolfed down the cup ramen and dumped the empty container into the bin of overflowing trash that Eddie wishes would just disappear on its own.

Eddie roughly pulls the blankets over his head and wills himself to sleep.

**“You are ignoring how much it hurts,”** Venom rumbles sadly.  **“It feels like fire, Eddie. Tastes like dead meat. Hurts all over, inside and out.”**

“Then leave,” Eddie snaps, and squeezes his eyes tightly closed, waiting for retaliation.

There is none.

Hot tears slip out from beneath his eyelids, and sobs rattle in his throat. He barely notices as Venom sprawls out of his body and loops protective ribbons around him, holding him gently in a canopy of sinew and inky nothing.

**“We would never leave you,”** the symbiote murmurs, and rocks him to sleep.

***

“Morning, sunshine,” Eddie mutters as Venom shakes him awake, tendrils coiling around his body and tugging him out of bed.

They do it gently, like a lover would do, or maybe like a parent waking up their kid for school.

**“Get up, Eddie.”**

The juxtaposition of Venom’s growl and the tenderness of the moment jars him half-awake.

“Wha-?” Eddie groans into the blissful softness of the pillow. “I’m getting up, babe. Give me five more minutes.”

**“Babe.”** There’s a tinge of amusement in Venom’s voice.

“I’m tired, shithead,” Eddie says through a yawn. “Give me a break.”

**“It’s morning,”** Venom says.  **“We need to get up and shower, Eddie.”**

“Huh? What time is it?”

**“Seven.”**

“AM?” He’s incredulous.

**“Yes. Get up, Eddie.”**

“Alright, alright,” Eddie says, kicking away the warm blankets, because arguing with your symbiote never ends well. “You hate showers. What gives?”

**“It will make you feel better. More alert. More awake.”**

“What are you, my therapist?”

Venom does a quick search through his memories, scanning what Eddie remembers of his old therapist.

**“No,”** Venom decides.  **“Not your therapist. Your symbiote. I am supposed to take care of this body, loser.”**

“Very sweet of you, Vee. Nothing better than backhanded compliments at the asscrack of dawn.”

**“Just protecting you from your own dumbass self.”**

“Fair point,” Eddie grunts, and drags himself into the shower.

Clean and dressed, he and Venom make scrambled eggs and toast and they gulp down the last of the orange juice in the fridge. Venom doesn’t complain about the lack of live bloody things, and Eddie’s beginning to get suspicious about ulterior motives.

“What’s up with the healthy shit, Vee? You harvesting my organs or something?”

**“No!”**

“Then where did this come from?”

**“We are depressed, Eddie.”**

“Very astute,” Eddie says.

**“I am** **_helping_ ** **,”** Venom growls pointedly, and shoves a forkful of eggs into their mouth.

“What’s next, yoga? A juice cleanse?”

**“A doctor’s appointment,”** Venom says, despite their hatred for medical professionals, and they helpfully pull Eddie’s phone out of his pocket and dial the number for his old psychiatrist.

***

Eddie gets a tongue-lashing by his psych for disappearing on her out of nowhere for the past several months. He makes an excuse about work being hectic and explains how he had thought his bipolar symptoms had disappeared for good. During the appointment Venom stays quiet for once, and he gets a refill for his trusty old Lithium prescription. 

“Make sure you get bloodwork in a couple weeks,” his doctor says, and Eddie nods in agreement, wondering if signs of an organ-hungry parasite will show up in his labs.

“ **_Not_ ** **a parasite, Eddie!”** Venom reminds him, barging into his thoughts as he leaves the pharmacy, medication in hand.

“I know, I know,” Eddie reassures them out loud, earning him a few stares from passerbys on the street. “What do you want me to call you, then?”

Venom doesn’t miss a beat.

**“Your partner.”**

“Like, in crime?” Eddie asks.

**“No.”**

“Like a cowboy?” he teases. “Y’know, ‘howdy partner?’”

Venom pauses.

**“Yes. Like a cowboy. The ones in** **_Brokeback Mountain.”_ **

Eddie chokes on air.

“No more movies for you, Vee.”

**“I wish I knew how to quit you,”** Venom quotes smugly.

“Yeah, right. You only shack up with me for the tater tots.”

**“Not true. I like Eddie just as much as tater tots,”** they growl. 

“Wow, really? Just as much? I can’t believe I’ve reached junk food status.”

**“You know what I mean.”**

Eddie  _ does  _ know. He can hear the love that seeps into Venom’s voice, humming like a steady bassline beneath their harsh growl. 

For now, he elects to ignore it.

***

Eddie takes his meds every day for the next three weeks, but not without help from his trusty symbiote.

**“Drink up. Hydration is important,”** Venom says, nudging a glass of water towards him, and Eddie rolls his eyes and downs the pills.  **“Good job.”**

And, well, it feels stupid to let a black inky alien take care of your human needs, but Vee’s been helpful and encouraging. The praise might be a little too much, but Eddie’s actually been doing the dishes and taking out the trash and doing well at work. It’s nice. No depression, no mania, just  _ existing _ .

That night when Venom curls up around him like an electric blanket, their teeth looking not-so-scary and their eyes oddly beautiful, Eddie sinks into the warmth.

He remembers the mindfulness shit his therapist used to go on about; he thinks of the meditation videos that he shoved into a drawer somewhere; now it’s beginning to make sense. Starting from his toes, then his knees, then his whole body, bit by bit, he melts into the symbiote. 

The intimacy of being one doesn’t scare him as much as he thought it would.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a totally unnecessary fluffy smutty chapter 2. they do the sex. this chapter is skippable if you're not for that. 
> 
> if you want to read the beginning and end but skip the actual explicit sex scene, stop around 'By the time Eddie arrives back home...' and start again at about '“Was that enough endorphins?”'
> 
> less discussion of mental health in this one, i think i'll write a slightly more on-topic chapter 3 discussing mania because i rarely see it represented well in fics and then possibly a chapter 4 to close it off (if i'm up to it)

 

When Eddie’s big growling blanket wakes him up for breakfast in the morning, he mumbles a half-hearted “five more minutes,” and starts snoring again.

**“C’mon, Eddie. I want organs for breakfast today,”** Vee begs, like a kid asking their mom for a box of hot fudge sundae PopTarts.  **“Find us breakfast.”**

“Look in the pantry,” Eddie mumbles. “We’ve got that sugary cereal you like, remember?”

Venom floods out of his body in whorls and slips into the kitchen, careful to stretch themselves thin so that they don’t leave the body entirely. 

While Venom’s around the corner, Eddie yawns widely and absentmindedly grinds into the sheets. One very big problem hits him like a freight train. 

**“Very big?”** Venom asks, coming back from the pantry with a box of Chocolaty Rice Crisps half-submerged in their inky mass of a body.  **“It’s a little bigger than average, but let’s be realistic here.”**

“Hey!” Eddie complains. “Roasting my dick size is off limits.”

**“We are one.”** Venom growls around a mouthful of cereal.  **“I have enough dick for the both of us.”**

“Wait, what?” Eddie says. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

**“I can be as big or as small as we want. My cells rearrange to meet the body’s needs.”**

“I feel like this should’ve been in the instruction manual. I didn’t know you came with a dick.”

**“I didn’t know you came with a mood disorder, but here we are.”**

Eddie laughs.

“Can you fuck some endorphins into me?” he teases.

**“Yes,”** Venom says, deadpan.  **“After breakfast.”**

Eddie opens his mouth, shuts it, hopes Vee isn’t reading his thoughts, and takes a very cold shower. ( **“Cold!!!”** Venom complains loudly the entire time, not even noticing his half-hard cock going soft.)

He takes his medicine and heads outside to satiate Vee’s organ craving.

Breakfast is bloody and bad-guy-flavored, and then it’s time for work stuff, and then he has coffee with Annie and Dan at some bougie little place that draws foam hearts on their cappuccinos. 

**“Tell them to draw real hearts on ours,”** Venom whines.  **“With ventricles. Mmm.”**

“You hate coffee,” Eddie says, and Annie looks at him, confused.

“I love coffee.”

“Not you,” Eddie says, and orders a hot chocolate anyway, and a chocolate croissant.

They sit at a little table next to an abstract art painting with a bunch of different colored triangles, and Eddie tears violently into the pastry.

“Chocolate is good for depression,” Dan says, parroting every worksheet on endorphins he ever got while he was in therapy.

**“See. Aren’t I helpful?”**

Eddie laughs loudly at no one.

“Ah, I saw a good meme. On Facebook,” Eddie says, waving his phone, which is clearly shut off.

“Oh, dude, let me see,” Dan says, oblivious. “I like those Minion memes.”

“Are you doing any better with the depression?” Annie asks sweetly, breezing past Dan’s comment. “You made an appointment with Dr. Callahan, right?”

“Yup,” Eddie says. “Didn’t even cancel. Back on the meds.”

“That’s wonderful,” Annie says, and Dan nods. “I knew you had it in you to find help.”

“Yeah,” Eddie nods. “I guess I did have it in me after all.”

**“Ha. Ha.”**

Eddie sips his hot chocolate, ignoring them.

“It was good seeing you,” Annie says, hugging him.

She smells like her favorite fruity shampoo that Eddie used to splurge on any time he wanted to get her a gift.

Eddie wonders if it’s the one he bought for her last birthday. A pang of sadness floods through his body, feeling a lot like he did a month ago, and Venom recoils inside of him, swimming circles around his guts like a shark in a tank.

“Good seeing you, man,” Dan says, and they do that dude hug thing that Eddie hates.

He thinks Dan claps his back a little too hard.

By the time Eddie arrives back home, he’s already itching to jerk off again. He supposes being less depressed means his sex drive is coming back. He thinks of taking another cold shower, but he imagines Venom wouldn’t stand for that. He decides he’s faced with the inevitable.

He sits on the bed in his boxers and socks, palming his weak erection. For being so horny, he’s having a hell of a time getting it up. He’s anxious about it for some reason; he feels like an awkward teenager working up the nerve to have sex for the first time. There’s lube in his nightstand drawer that he hasn’t touched since before Vee showed up. There’s also a box of condoms, which he doesn’t think will be necessary. He’s not sure Venom can even cum.

**“I can,”** the symbiote pipes up.  **“We can. Together.”**

Vee spirals out of his chest in a way that should be unnerving, but Eddie’s gotten used to it. Their head bobs in front of him.

“How should we--?” Eddie starts, and Venom nuzzles their head into his neck, shutting him up.

**“I know what you think about.”**

Their voice is a dark purr, reaching deep parts of him that he never thought could feel good.

“Yeah,” Eddie says. “I like it rough.”

**“No,”** Venom says insistently. **“You don’t.”**

“What do you mean?” 

He frowns.

**“Your dream from last night was not rough.”**

“That wasn’t a sex dream.”

**“Exactly. But we were in it. I remember.”**

Venom makes a quiet noise like a demonic sigh, and then a series of images from his dream last night flicker through his brain like a poorly made slideshow at a wedding reception. The process makes his head ache.

He half-remembered the dream on his own, of course, but Vee’s version is crystal clear. The crisp pictures of Venom holding him close make him blush. He covers his face with his hands.

**“You’re turning pink,”** Venom says, and then they add,  **“With blood.”**

“Yeah,” Eddie laughs softly, smiling up at them. “With blood.”

Venom half-wraps around him, blanket-like and closer than (almost) anything, their head nestling on his shoulder.

**“This too,”** Venom remarks, either in his ear or in his head (he can never tell), and slowly rubs him through his boxers.  **“Full of blood.”**

Eddie hisses; he’s sensitive, and the symbiote is oddly gentle. They’re purring and heating up at the touch; he guesses they can feel it too. He whimpers and pushes them away.

**“Does it hurt you?”** Venom asks.

“No,” Eddie breathes. “Feels good, babe. So good.”

**“Babe,”** the symbiote says reverently, but there’s no derision in their voice this time.

Their warmth surrounds him, but Vee stays still, humming softly with joy.

“Touch me,” he begs, hips bucking up as he grinds against the warmth.

**“Of course. You only had to ask.”**

There’s no mistaking it; he’s rock hard now. Venom slides inside of his boxers, condensing their black matter into one tight mass that he can thrust into. It should be weird, but it’s not, and Eddie gasps and his head flings back. It feels  _ so  _ good, kind of like that warming lube he once tried with Annie. But this is better. So, so, so much better.

“I want,” Eddie says, and his voice breaks. “I want you inside.”

The symbiote picks him up easily and drops him against the bed. Then they trace wetly past his dick, circling his hole and making him shiver. He inches for the nightstand drawer, but Venom reads his mind.

**“You won’t need it. I can lubricate our hole.”**

And Eddie’s taken bigger than average cock on spit and cheap latex, but he thinks back to what the symbiote said about being as big as he wanted.

**“If it hurts, we will stop,”** Venom says, their voice sounding as reassuring as a demonic growl can. **“We hate pain, my Eddie. Tell me if we should stop.”**

Then they lick over the cleft of Eddie’s ass, swirling their tongue and dipping inside. Their tongue is so wet, as if it’s seeping some sort of natural lubricant. 

“Don’t stop,” Eddie gasps immediately, his brain fizzling out from pleasure as a series of embarrassing words rush from his mouth. “Please baby, just fuck me, please, please, oh fuck, oh God, oh,  _ Venom _ .”

Venom works him open with their tongue, going slowly and gently, and Eddie quickly falls apart into a babbling mess. Then the symbiote’s inky matter forms into a dick-like shape. Eddie would have laughed at the absurdity of it all, but then their dick nudges carefully against his hole, and he immediately groans and pushes his ass back against it. Venom presses inside and the breath is knocked from his lungs.

**“Should we stop?”** Vee asks, pulling out, and Eddie nearly cries.

“No, please don’t.” He grips the sheets, fisting his hands in the fabric. “Thank you for checking, but I need it, Vee. I need you inside me.”

**“In here?”** they ask, prodding against his ass, and Eddie nods, nearly sobbing.  **“Say it.”**

“Fuck my hole, Venom.”

**“Our hole.”**

“Our hole,” Eddie gasps. “Please.”

Then the symbiote thrusts back in, fucking him sloppily, aiming for his prostate. Eddie makes an incoherent noise and Venom tenderly grabs his hips, pulling back and bucking inside while they stroke his cock. It feels oh so good, better than when Annie used to peg him, better than any man he’s met on a hook-up app. Eddie can’t think, and when he doesn’t think, he gets gay and stupid.

“I love you,” he gasps, and then bites down on his hand.

**“Don’t. I like hearing you say it. I heard it in the dream too,”** Venom says in his head, fucking him harder.  **“I love you, Eddie.”**

Then Eddie comes, the orgasm shuddering through his body out of nowhere, like he’s been hit full-force by a truck. Venom purrs, riding out the orgasm and slipping out of Eddie when he gets too sensitive.

“Mm,” Eddie says intelligently, and Venom siphons him clean and curls around him.

**“Was that enough endorphins?”**

“Ha,” Eddie says. “Very funny.”

**“You love me,”** Venom says.

“Hey! You said it too.”

**“Am I your partner now?”**

“Yeah. If you want to be.”

**“Of course I do. Loser.”**

“Good night,” Eddie says around a yawn, the post-coital bliss spreading through his body in the form of exhaustion.

**“Meds, dumbass.”**

“Fine,” Eddie groans, and Venom carries him bridal-style to the kitchen for a glass of water so he can gulp down the pill, then back to bed.

**“Good job.”**

Venom’s voice rumbles through their bones and the feeling calms his body, making him drift off already.

“It’s all you, y’know,” Eddie murmurs.

**“No, Eddie. It’s us.”**

“It’s us,” Eddie agrees. 

**“Always?”**

“Always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading my dumb stuff


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short and angsty. i'm not sure if this counts as a manic episode or mixed episode but i'm basing it on my own symptoms and experiences (i have bipolar 1).  
> ps: i added a gore warning, but it's mostly just the canon people-eating stuff

Maybe his dose isn’t high enough. Maybe it’s the post-depression upswing. Maybe it’s his quickly returning sex drive.

Whatever it is, he’s happy. Happy, impulsive, and stupid.

The symbiote bites and blood sings on their tongue. Mania tastes metallic. Eddie usually lets Venom take over with the whole people-eating thing, but recently he’s been in the mood to rip something (or someone) apart. Flesh tears between their sharp teeth and the thrill of moral ambiguity rushes through their head.

Today, dinner is a bad guy who was holding some poor lady at gunpoint, threatening things worse than murder. They scared her off too, but at least she left in one piece. He thinks it’s the fangs. People tend to get a little intimidated.

The guy tumbles, headless, to the ground.

“Let’s do that again,” Eddie says as they morph back into their decidedly less toothy form, and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

Blood streaks red from his fingers to his wrist. He marvels at the color.

**“What? It’s time to sleep, Eddie. Let’s get home. Meds. Sleep. Work in the morning, remember?”**

Eddie hadn’t remembered, but he wasn’t going to admit it.

“Sleep?” he laughs. “You’re not still hungry, babe?”

He’s not especially hungry either, but the adrenaline is intoxicating.

 **“We need to get home,”** Venom warns him. **“Our heart is beating too fast for a human.”**

“Fine, fine, fine,” Eddie sighs, repeating the word enough times that it’s clear that he is very much the opposite.

He reluctantly ditches the corpse and soon he’s speeding down the road on his bike. Venom’s wrapped around his body like a black leather jacket. One that’s crash proof. They’re gladly playing the part of an air bag, but Eddie’s too sidetracked to notice.

 **“Stop!”** Venom says in his head as the upcoming light flickers yellow.

They’re still a few carlengths behind it.

“I can make it,” Eddie insists.

He speeds up, prepared to pass through the red light. Suddenly the symbiote shifts into his body and takes over, stopping the motorcycle instantly. People stare bug-eyed at the alien through their car windows.

A flood of cars has already begun zipping past before their eyes and Venom pants through their gaped mouth, staring at the oncoming traffic. Eddie can feel the panic pounding in their chest. As for him, he just feels annoyed.

 **“You shouldn’t have done that,”** Venom growls out loud.

“It was going to be fine,” Eddie argues.

He’s irritable. He can’t move their arms. Vee’s got him on lock down. The light turns green and the bike moves forward.

 **“We could have died,”** Venom says quietly, weaving through traffic and heading home.

“You’re overreacting.”

 **“I need to protect our body,”** they say, something like a sob hissing from the back of their throat. **“Dumbass. Don’t put us in danger.”**

“If you don’t want danger, get out,” Eddie says.

 **“No,”** Venom says, with something terribly _human_ aching in their voice. **“I’m taking you home. Now.”**

Eddie sees black. It’s as if someone’s pulled a sheet over his head -- the symbiote has completely taken over, out of presumed necessity -- and when he opens his eyes again, he finds himself in bed.

“Vee?” he says, voice trembling.“Babe?”

No one answers. Eddie sighs. He doesn’t know if he’s getting the silent treatment or if the symbiote is really gone. He pulls the blanket over his body. It’s not as warm as Venom’s embrace, but it’ll do.

He still doesn’t want to sleep. His pill box for the day is empty, so Vee must’ve taken the medicine before disappearing, but the pills aren’t doing much for the racing thoughts. Even without Venom’s voice in his head, his brain still seems far too loud.

“I miss you,” Eddie says to no one. “I’m sorry.”

He can hear music playing from his neighbor’s room next door and a shower sputtering on from the apartment above. He’s so used to Venom’s constant commentary that he hasn’t noticed _sounds_ in a while.

He makes a frozen pizza and realizes he isn’t hungry after two bites, so he puts it in the fridge. Then he goes to his room and jerks off, which _sucks_ because symbiote sex has definitely ruined orgasms for him. He binge watches Netflix shows, which is boring without Vee making fun of the shitty writing ( **“We could do better, Eddie. We’re hilarious. Let’s write a sitcom.”** ).

After a while it’s morning. _‘Time to shower off the rest of the blood from last night and head to work!’_ he tells himself, but his inner monologue sounds less convincing without the alien’s voice saying it.

He’s still running on the four hours of sleep he’d gotten the night before last (and his meds and a bowl of sugary cereal), but he gets through the day. After work, Eddie gets coffee from the place with the foam hearts. It tastes like shit. He wants hot chocolate. He wants Venom.

He tries not to think about it, as if the symbiote is still reading his thoughts.

“Always,” he says bitterly, despite himself, and the people at the coffee shop look at him like he’s nuts.

He’s used to it, but he figures he should stop talking to himself out loud if there’s no one in his head to talk to.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little more angst. i'm sorry eddie ily

The meditation video cases are coated with a thin layer of dust. 

Eddie’s DVD player sputters to life and he just sits on his bed with his eyes closed and breathes. In and out. Out and in. This one is in English, at least. The voice washes over him, soft and guiding. ( _ Not like Venom’s voice _ , his brain supplies.) He plays it twice in a row, relaxing from his toes to the top of his head in an attempt to calm his thoughts, but he just can’t clear his mind.

He doesn’t want a clear mind. He wants his mind completely  _ full  _ \-- full of stupid jokes, sly digs, heartfelt words. He wants Venom, Venom,  _ Venom _ .

His eyes fly open and he punches the wall with all his strength.

“Notice your hands,” the mindfulness video says. “Are they tense, or tight?”

“Fuck you,” Eddie says to the television.

Luckily, he didn’t break the wall, but his hand’s another story. His knuckles smart. He remembers that if Vee was here, they’d heal it in seconds. He curses again and stomps off to wrap his hand. Then he makes a phone call.

***

“So, you’re struggling with a bit of separation anxiety?” Eddie’s therapist says, pursing her lips and uncapping her pen.

She writes something down, then glances up, waiting for a response. Eddie nods.

“Yeah, sounds about right,” he says, shifting uncomfortably in the chair.

His hand is still throbbing from the day before.

“Did you feel this way when you and your fiancée split up?” she asks. “Any panic attacks, difficulty sleeping, headaches?”

“No,” Eddie says honestly. “No, that just felt like a breakup. Sure, I was depressed, but this is different.”

“And this Vee...is that her name?”

“Vee’s not a her,” Eddie says. “Vee’s a they.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” she says, scribbling a note on her clipboard. “So this Vee...they just left?”

“Yeah,” Eddie says. “We got in a fight right before. A big fight, I mean. I was stupid and manic and they were just trying to help. It was my fault, and now I have no idea where they are or if they’re safe, and--”

“Slow down, Eddie. You’re not stupid. Making poor decisions because of your symptoms doesn’t make you stupid. It means you’re struggling against your own biology.”

“It was a bad fight,” he says.

“Yes. But you came back to therapy on your own. That was a smart choice.”

“I guess that’s true.”

“Just focus on coping with the anxiety. I’m sure Vee’s fine. Are you sure they aren’t just staying with a friend?”

“I don’t think so,” Eddie says, making up a lie in his head. “I don’t think they have many close friends in the area. They’re not from around here.”

“Right,” his therapist says. “I’m sure they’re safe, Eddie. I know you’re worried, but give them some time. You said it was a big fight. Maybe they just need some space.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

“Look, Eddie,” she says. “I know you have a tendency to rely on people. I don’t mean because you’re trying to use them. More because you don’t trust yourself enough to take care of things on your own. Believe in yourself a little more.”

“I’ll try,” he says.

“It’s almost seven. Same time next week?”

“I’ll call,” he says with a tight-lipped smile.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed so far!!


End file.
